Transwitch fits system on chip

Published 2:59 am, Tuesday, September 1, 2009

That's why the Shelton-based provider of semiconductors for voice, data and video equipment has developed the Atlanta 2000, a high-performance communications processor.

"With this device, you can really hear my voice as if we were face to face," said Michael Macari, Transwitch's vice president of engineering.

The device, a postage stamp-sized microchip with a router and two internal processors, provides superior quality for voice, video and data by handling two gigabits of information at a time, said William McDonald, the company's director of marketing.

"It's very high-performance," he said.

The Atlanta 2000's capacity has piqued the interest of the highly advanced Japanese telecommunications market, McDonald said.

"They just seem to have a hunger for bandwidth," he said, adding that Verizon and AT&amp;T also are interested in the chip.

The Atlanta 2000, which took two years to develop, joins a router and a processor in a microchip that can interface with several external components such as a telephone, personal computer or Internet TV service, said Hoshang Mulla, Transwitch's director of communications.

"We are able to put together a system on a chip that is integrated in the right way that the customers are looking for at the right cost," he said.

Atlanta 2000's price is at the "low end" of the company's microchips, which cost from less than $10 to several hundreds of dollars each, Mulla said.

Transwitch's other products on the Japanese market include the Mustang, a modem microchip.

The company was founded in 1988 by Santanu Das, its president and chief executive officer. Das held executive positions at Micom Digital Corp., its predecessor, as well as Spectrum Digital, and ITT Corp.

Transwitch, which has more than 200 employees in several locations worldwide, in 2006 acquired Mysticom Ltd., an Israel-based semiconductor company, and Centillium Communications Inc. of Fremont, Calif., in 2008.

The company, which Thursday posted second-quarter earnings for 2009, reported a net income of $4 million, compared with a net loss of $4.3 million for the same period last year. Revenues for this year's second quarter were $14.5 million, compared with $8.9 million for the second quarter of 2008.

The firm's stock, which is traded on the Nasdaq as TXCC, on Thursday remained unchanged to close at 60 cents.

Transwitch's Atlanta 2000 should sell well in the Japanese market because of its affordability, said Richard Harrison, a Transwitch analyst with Richland Securities Inc. in Minneapolis.

"Given the fact that they are doing pretty well with their other products, it has a pretty good chance of performing very well there," he said.